‘So this is Mary’s new nanny.’ The minister looked at me with interest. ‘I hope you won’t find our lives here too dull.’ He had an angular face with sharp eyes that were shadowed as if by sleepless nights. ‘And this is Mrs Argylle, my wife,’ he said.

She leaned towards me, taking my hands in both of hers in warm welcome. ‘I’m a very poor traveller,’ she said, ‘or I would certainly have made your acquaintance on the journey over. You must forgive me and let me give you tea very soon. We don’t often have a new face on Skelthsea.’

Miss Gillies stood a little way off, holding Mary tightly to her side, but nobody lingered long. The night had begun to settle and the wind had grown, sweeping down from the ridge and catching our hats and outerwear. We made our way quickly to the bay, where the sea’s edge glimmered in the moonlight.

As we approached Iskar’s path, my eyes drifted upwards to the nursery rooms and I stopped dead. Behind the glass there was a blur of movement. Miss Gillies turned, hearing the cessation of my feet on the shingle.

‘Are you all right, Elspeth?’ she asked.

I stared hard at the window, trying to make sense of what I had seen.

But there was nothing now to observe – and then a movement of cloud was reflected on the panes and I chided myself for my imagination, yet a feeling of unease remained.

Mary paused beside me and I turned to give her a smile but she, like myself, had her attention fixed on the garret rooms. I followed her gaze but was met with only a black veneer against the darkening sky.

In the hall, Mrs Lenister told me that dinner would be served in the dining room that evening with Miss Gillies and I wondered if usually I would be expected to take it alone with Mary. Coats and mufflers discarded, we ate roasted grouse while the storm lashed rain against the glass and howled in chimneys. The fires guttered and spat. Dinner was well cooked. Greer, who served us, seemed unconcerned by the weather, as did both Miss Gillies and Mary, and I gave an inward shrug.

Mrs Lenister came in with extra lamps, placing them on the sideboard, and we moved to a simple pudding of stewed fruit. All the while, Miss Gillies talked of the day she had spent, the lessons that had been completed with Mary, and questioned me about how I was finding my duties so far.

Occasionally, I turned to Mary with a comment but she ate stiffly, paying no attention to either myself or her aunt.

We took coffee in the drawing room where we played cards and I did not notice how late it was until the clock struck eight-thirty. We finished the round and Mary rose.